Free Wake the Dead 2 (Wake The Dead Series) by Gary F. Vanucci Page B

asked.
    “I’ve got tin snips. I found them, as a matter of fact, when I was trying to save your ass!” Alex said with a chuckle. “No bolt-cutters yet. We’re gonna pick up a pair on our next trip to SuperMart though. You can bet on that.”
    “You gonna cut our way in?” Selina asked him doubtfully.
    “”Yep. That’s the plan. Unless there’s no lock on that chain,” he added, staring over there through the binoculars and not seeing anything. “Must have been fastened from the inside.”
    “Or, they never locked it. The jokers ain’t smart, so they can’t open doors or use mechanical things,” Selina said with hope.
    “Well, that’s true. We’ll find out soon enough, huh?”
    Selina nodded and gestured for him to hand her the binoculars. As if on cue, they heard the sound of a vehicle heading their way. Alex chanced a look and lifted his head to see. It was the Explorer heading their way and right toward the fence.
    The zombies that were inside the gates became immediately incensed at the activity and sound, rushing toward the gates to investigate.
    Bryan waved to them from the passenger window, Alexis in the driver’s seat—both literally and figuratively where Bryan was concerned, Alex suddenly thought—and then he began whistling for the zombies on the back side of the property. They drove right up to the locked gate and began blaring the horn.
    As the vehicular game of ‘pied piper’ ensued—the term the group had been using to describe the luring of zombies away from others—the vehicle slowly crept along the fencing heading toward the front of the lot. As they continued along, the noise brought a heavy portion of the undead horde with it, leaving behind almost no stragglers.
    Alex could not help but notice the chain link begin to buckle under the sheer mass of undead flesh that pushed against it. The SUV picked up speed and decoyed the horde further away from where Alex and Selina patiently waited.
    The two of them raced toward the entrance and, sure enough, it was locked from the inside. Without a word, Alex began working the tin snips along a straight line, cutting as quickly as he could.
    As he was cutting, he felt a presence behind him and immediately after, heard a gurgling noise and then felt he fence bulge right in front him. He rolled backward as his heart thundered in his chest, thinking something was about to kill him. He glanced up from where he lay on the ground and realized that Selina must have jammed her sword through a zombie that had come toward them, and it had fallen over dead right where he was cutting.
    A few seconds later, he caught his breath and resumed his task. When the cutting was finished, Alex tossed the snips in his pack and removed the bow, shouldered his quiver, and then removed an arrow. He nocked one as they rounded the corner.
    He felt more than saw the movement and jumped out from around the corner of the ambulance and saw another of the undead sniffing the air as if acknowledging their presence. He loosed the arrow and it pierced the zombie’s skull.
    Racing to the body, Alex yanked free the arrow and inspected it. The shaft was cracked.
    Dammit. I'm running low on good ones.
    He unscrewed the broad head from the cracked shaft, tossed it onto the quiver, and scolded himself for not replacing the damaged arrows he’d been carrying for weeks now in his quiver.
    “Alex,” Selina said, trying to get his attention. “ Alex !” Dammit, look!”
    He looked up to see a half-dozen more zombies racing their way and immediately ran toward Selina, who was about to crack the driver side window with the butt of her sword.
    “Wait!” he said, grabbing her arms to stop her momentum. She looked at him with a frantic look on her face..
    He kissed her before she could utter a word, not wanting to have to explain himself in the little time they had, then dropped to his knees and started feeling around the frame of the vehicle. He felt a button, pushed it, and then